Backups

Use Admin > Settings > Backups to create and maintain system backup schedules. These are global schedules, not tenant schedules. A backup can export system configuration, call history, recording metadata, reports data, custom configuration files, or a combination of these sources.

This page documents the dedicated Backups administration screen. It is separate from the Voicemail backup storage setting inside Admin Settings, which only controls voicemail-message backup storage.

Open the Backups Page

Step	Action
1	Open Admin > Settings from the Global Administration menu.
2	In the Administration Links panel, choose Backups.
3	Use the Backups list to review existing schedules, run a backup manually, or open the Backup form.

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Backups List

The Backups list is the operational view for existing backup schedules. It supports sorting, search, pagination, selecting rows for deletion, opening a schedule by clicking its linked fields, and queuing a manual run from the Action column.

Column or control	Description
New Backup	Opens a blank Backup form for creating a new global backup schedule.
Delete Selected	Deletes the selected backup schedules after confirmation. Each deleted schedule also removes the linked background cron definition.
Selection checkbox	Selects one or more backup schedules for bulk deletion.
Name	Schedule name. A red disabled icon beside the name indicates an inactive schedule.
Node	Node that runs the backup job. Use this to keep database dumps and file operations on the intended PBX node.
Scheduled	Human-readable schedule built from month, weekday, day, hour, and minute settings.
Last executed	Shows the last start and end timestamps for the background job.
Directory	Local filesystem directory where backup files are written before optional FTP transfer.
FTP Server	Remote FTP host and directory when FTP storage is configured.
Run backup	Queues the selected schedule for immediate execution. The application displays that the backup has been scheduled and should start within about one minute.

Backup Information

The Information section defines the schedule identity, whether it is active, what data the backup contains, and which node runs the job.

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Field	Description
Name	Required schedule name shown in the Backups list and background job history.
Active	Controls whether the scheduled job can run automatically. Inactive schedules remain saved but are not executed by schedule.
Type	Selects the backup content. Available choices include system configuration, call history, recordings metadata, reports data, combined system and call history backups, combined system, call history, and recordings backups, combined system, call history, recordings, and reports data backups, and custom configuration files.
Run from node	Selects the PBX node that executes the backup. Choose a node that has access to the database, local backup directory, and any custom files being archived.

Backup Content Types

Backup content	What is created
System configuration	Creates a system configuration database dump named like asterisk-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.sql. The recording metadata and reports data tables are excluded from this dump and handled by their own backup choices.
Call history	Creates a call-history database dump named like asteriskcdrdb-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.sql.
Recordings	Creates a recording metadata database dump named like asteriskrecordings-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.sql. This backs up the recordings database table; it does not replace the configured storage backup for the actual audio files.
Reports data	Creates a reports data database dump named like asteriskreportsdata-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.sql.
System configuration then call history	Runs the system configuration dump and then the call-history dump in the same backup job.
System configuration then call history then recordings	Runs the system configuration, call-history, and recording-metadata dumps in the same backup job.
System configuration then call history then recordings and reports data	Runs the combined database backup including system configuration, call history, recording metadata, and reports data.
Custom configuration files	Creates a compressed archive named like customfiles-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.tar.gz containing the custom system and PBX configuration paths handled by the backup runner.

Schedule

The Schedule section controls when the background job runs. Month, weekday, day, and hour support multiple selections; minute is selected as a single value.

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Field	Description
Month	Select Every month or one or more specific months.
Weekday	Select Any weekday or one or more weekdays. This is evaluated together with the other schedule fields.
Day	Select Every day or one or more day numbers from 1 through 31.
Hour	Select Every hour or one or more hours from 0 through 23.
Minute	Select Every minute or one minute from 00 through 59. For production backups, prefer a specific low-traffic minute instead of every minute.

Database Access

The backup job uses these credentials when creating database dumps. Store credentials for an account that can read the required MiRTA PBX databases and run from the selected node.

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Field	Description
Host	Database host reachable from the selected node. Use the local database address when the backup runs on the database node.
User	Database user used by the dump command.
Password	Database password for the backup user. Treat it as a secret and avoid exposing it in screenshots or support tickets.

Filesystem Backup Storage

Filesystem storage is always the first backup target. The backup runner creates files in the configured local directory and applies local retention by backup type.

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Field	Description
Directory	Required local directory where backup files are written. The selected node must be able to create the directory if needed and write files into it.
System configuration #files	Required number of local system configuration dump files to keep.
Call history #files	Required number of local call-history dump files to keep.
Recordings #files	Required number of local recording metadata dump files to keep.
Reports data #files	Required number of local reports data dump files to keep.
Custom configuration #files	Required number of local custom configuration archives to keep.

FTP Backup Storage

FTP storage is optional. When an FTP host is configured, the backup runner uploads the generated local backup files to the remote FTP directory and applies the configured remote retention values.

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Field	Description
Host	FTP server hostname or address. Leave empty to keep backups only in the local filesystem directory.
User	FTP username.
Password	FTP password. Treat it as a secret.
Max data rate	Optional upload limit. Use suffixes such as K, M, or G, for example 10M.
Directory	Remote FTP directory where backup files are uploaded.
Use passive FTP	Keeps passive FTP enabled when checked. Clear it only for FTP servers that require non-passive mode.
System configuration #files	Optional number of remote system configuration dump files to keep.
Call history #files	Optional number of remote call-history dump files to keep.
Recordings #files	Optional number of remote recording metadata dump files to keep.
Reports data #files	Optional number of remote reports data dump files to keep.
Custom configuration #files	Optional number of remote custom configuration archives to keep.
Save	Creates or updates the backup schedule and returns to the Backups list.
Delete	Deletes the current backup schedule after confirmation.
Back	Returns to the Backups list without saving changes.

More Panel

The More panel provides a second entry point for creating a new backup schedule and, when schedules already exist, quick links to open the other saved backup schedules.

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Validation and Troubleshooting

Check	What to verify
Manual run	After saving a schedule, use the Run backup action from the Backups list and wait at least one minute for the background runner to pick it up.
Local files	Confirm that new backup files are created in the configured local directory and that old files are pruned according to the retention counts.
Database permissions	If database dumps fail, verify host reachability, username, password, and read permissions on the selected backup content databases.
Filesystem permissions	If no files are created, verify that the selected node can create and write to the configured directory.
FTP transfer	If local files are created but remote transfer fails, verify FTP host, directory, credentials, passive mode, transfer rate, and that the selected node has the FTP client dependency installed.
Background output	For low-level failure details, check the backup runner output log at /tmp/mirtapbxbackup.out and, when a post-backup hook is installed, /tmp/mirtapbx-post-backup.log.